Just Work Down, Thats Whats Up

As builders of our own sky, sometimes ironically, the sky IS the limit .. in less cryptic words, we cant go up any further. Zeniths might be higher than our ceilings, our shed roofs, or in my case, how high my original-yet-inept carpentry could take me (limiting factor, my ladders and my sense of equilibrium, neither which are too good)... So what to do .. when you cant work up anymore, try working down!

Lower the horizon .. the projector .. the chairs .. I havent dug into the ground yet but the thought has crossed my mind .. seen in the accompanying picture, I needed more sky due to my not high enough roof in my remodeled main theater .. so I napoleanized it (a new verb, you heard it hear first!) - I shortend everything. it should look good in the dark, and now Ive got more sky for the same price!

So keep looking up, but dont forget to look down too. For as they say, space really has no direction. Just ask the guys standing upside down in China !

Black Vinyl, YOURE FIRED!

Ive had it up to HERE (well maybe, here... ) with black vinyl. I have bought my FINAL VINYL. Ive finally gone spasstic over plastic, excuse me if thats a politically incorrect term nowadays. I have bought enough black vinyl plastic to cover Delaware . over my home planetarium years for all manner of purposes... and in two massive trips to the Sumner Landfill today, I swore off black vinyl! I used it to make rooms dark ... but it doesnt really unless you buy the 4 MIL .. the lower versions let light right through! And with my carpentry, the wind ALWAYS brings down the corners .. there arent enough staples in Staples to hold it .. I'll have star shows when it gets dark if I have to .. go back to nature! but BUT then my biggest folly - use it to fight roof leaks!! But what happens over and over is .. it merely amplifies and funnels leaks into a torrent of rainwater in some corner .. while HIDING the sources .. then it sits around outside and collects rainwater, which hidden in the folds grows rancid .. the wind blows it all over the yard .. its goes everywhere, disposing of it means taking a shower in said water .. and so

black vinyl .. YOURE FIRED!!!!

i feel better now

'Making' Planetariums

If I were to sum up what I've learned, 'making planetariums' means alot of different things to alot of different people. What IS a planetarium anyway? To some its a projector of the stars. To others, its a domed theater. To even more, its a model, functioning or static, which depicts the heavens or some aspect of them. Its childhood memories, and its teaching children of all ages. Its expressing that love in related art, reading related books, and writing related articles. Its maintaining and restoring the old, its inventing and reimagining the new in technology. Its combining scientific laws of optics, mechanics, geometry in ways that can be enjoyed from private lazyboys to public forums. Its bringing physics and romance into a garage or spare bedroom. 'Making' planetariums is finding new uses for old 'junk' or commonplace items. Its learning mythology and biography, and meeting people both deceased and very much alive today.

If I were asked, what do you mean, 'making planetariums', I'd actually be more hard pressed to say what it isn't.

Astro Enhanced Art

I was frustrated, I couldn't find astro art that satisfied that odd mixture of science and emotion. Sure there was Starry Starry Night by Van Gogh .. stars dripping through the Paris(?) sky but where were my own mental images? Where was the secluded cove at Lake of the Ozarks watching the Cross slip into the darkened hills, time for Dad to fire up the 5 horse outboard and take us in. Where was Crux over south seas unimaginable as I stood for a few brief days on Maui and realized just how much larger the world was than my TV screen .. no art captured these emotions .. I found some pictures in old dusty shelf astronomy books and this brought the idea ..

I'd create my own .. enhance pictures I found that were ALMOST there in my mind .. the sunset, the sky .. the lake, the ocean . the scene .. how hard would it be to dab in some impressionistic yet realistic stars? Stars dont have to be pinpoints always .. we see them in our minds eye more a watercolor sometimes .. So I tried it .. I may make a collection .. just small additions

But is adding the cosmos to a scene small in any way? Or is it dreaming big?

I Might See my Future, and it Might Not be a Dome!

Ive got dome-fatigue you know, Ive built them out of sheets, posters, panels, displayboards .. and they arent ever tall enough, or smooth enough, or domey enough .. or big enough, or white enough, or light tighted enough!

So I mused as I lay in bed and gazed up in the dark at my square victorian bedchamber, 12 foot ceiling lost in dim haze and I thought .. I want kids to build star projectors darnit! Or buy my little one, my cakebox, if you will .. and use it where? where gare? Why in their bedroom of course .. nobody but my beloved geeky friends (i fly my geek flag high) are going to ever build a dome, or buy one ... I need stars on the ceiling ... And other folks are already selling these (see picture)

So I might see my future, and it might not be a dome..

I might need to build a bedroom out behind the barn to give shows in .. it might ought to be square not round ... pie r squared.. isnt that math?

Stars on the ceiling. As I lie there in bed ..

DeClutter, but don't DePlane!

Anyone whose lost a parent goes through it .. their 'stuff' remains behind ... I once visited a tragically killed amateur astronomers observatory at the invitation of his mother. What about our 'stuff' when we're gone? Its an invitation to declutter . to weed out things we wouldnt want to burden loved ones with ..

But if we take it too far, arent we deplaning? Getting off the aircraft that flew with our dreams? Destroying a little of who we ARE for a time when we ARENT anymore?

I say declutter and find out whats really important to you. Make a will, a list of where things should go in the event you do.

But keeping flying. You havent landed yet. Long may we fly.

Stars and Guitars (Back Then)

I used to be much more interesting. Back Then... I was all stars and guitars.. maybe I could be again.

Pouring over the charts, it was dark at 5 on these long winters eves .. a telescope in the basement by the washer.. M42 after supper .. a sears silvertone on my bed, and new Black Sabbath to learn .. stars and guitars . I kept notebooks .. I wrote little songs .. my best friend had a big telescope and his own guitar and we'd play in the garage .. duane (allman) and ritchie (blackmore) we were .. chords and lead .. comets and galaxies .. it was so much more exciting than jobs and babies and houses and bills .. I bought them again but they sit unused mostly .. Black Sabbath is Ozzie in rehab .. the stars out back are the glow from the stores along the strip in my town .. my best friend has kids and grandmother sisters and I have college bills larger than house payments .. wherefore art thou, stars and guitars?

I used to play chess .. cruise to the music shops.. buy things secondhand .. I used to be so much more interesting .

Back then

all stars and guitars

Maybe I could be again...